The Vancouver Canucks were widely considered the Stanley Cup favorite heading into this season. Reigning Hart Trophy winner; check. Current Hart Trophy favorite; check. Gold medal winning goaltender; check. Depth additions to their defense and forward corps; check. No Byfuglien in Chicago; check. They have been so dominant that a 24-5-4 run by San Jose since the All Star break still has them 10 points back of the West lead. But winning the Presidents’ Trophy, the first in their history, doesn’t always translate into success in the playoffs:

The Presidents’ Trophy was introduced in the 1985-86 season and has been won by 14 different teams (15 including Vancouver). The only team to have won it more than twice is the Detroit Red Wings….with six :). Here are the playoff results of the previous 24 winners of the trophy:

The good news here is that the Presidents’ Trophy winner has won seven out of nine if they’re lucky enough to get to the Finals. The bad news is that they have only made it there 38% of the time (9 out of 24 seasons).

I think the best thing for the Canucks would be to face the Blackhawks in the first round. Although it’s definitely not the same team they’ve played in previous years, the psychological momentum they would gain from finally defeating their rivals would be a huge step in finally taking that next step.

With a rare quiet Thursday night in the NHL, here is a look at what things could look like come Friday morning in the playoff races.

– A Montreal win combined with a Rangers’ loss confirms that Montreal will either finish 6th or 7th in the Conference.

– A Rangers’ win means that they could still finish anywhere between 6th and 8th, but since Carolina has the tiebreaker with them, could still finish out of the playoffs.

– A Dallas overtime loss would clinch a playoff spot for Nashville and Phoenix.

– A Dallas regulation loss would clinch a playoff spot for the two above, as well as Anaheim and Chicago, because although Dallas would still only be four points back with two games remaining, they would not be able to catch their 45 and 43 wins. Thankfully, they play the Avs.

Again, the best view comes at the 1:00 mark. I don’t get how this decision was not overturned by the league office. First of all, there is zero evidence showing that Hossa even touched the puck with his stick, which would it have happened, would negate the kicking motion. Secondly, there is zero evidence that the puck even crosses the line in this situation.

The Hawks were down 0-2 at that point, but rallied around this marker on route to a 4-3 OT win. That, combined with Anaheim’s big win over San Jose officially eliminated Calgary from playoff contention.

The first player to score 50 goals in the NHL this season is not named Ovechkin, Stamkos or even Sedin; it’s none other than my formerly most hated player turned fantasy favorite after he won my keeper league for me……….COREY PERRY!

Perry has broken out in a big way over the second half of the season, 25 goals and 22 assists in his last 28 games (since Feb 1), and has vaulted himself into Hart Trophy consideration. Prior to this season, he was considered an extremely valuable player to his team, and was on the cusp of the elite wingers in the league. His career highs were 32 goals in 08-09 and 76 points last season; now he is on the verge of cracking 100!

For those interested, on February 1 Steven Stamkos had 38 goals and now sits at 44. Do the math for Perry; it’s a phenomenal streak and it better not be thrown aside because he lines up with Ryan Getzlaf and one of the league’s best powerplays every night.

This goal is absolutely one of the craziest I have ever seen. Halak tries what has become almost a common move by a goaltender, to swat the puck in mid air out of harm’s way after save, but it backfires as it hits two points on his stick and ends up in the back of the net.

I can see the TSN Top 10 now﻿….

The Wings were actually outplayed over the first two periods and outshot 24-17 over that span. Then the Wings scored four goals in just over three minutes in the third period.

We all know Ilya Kovalchuk is struggling right now. The New Jersey Devils are struggling even more. But how about these following discoveries I made this morning. Below are the records of ALL of the teams Kovalchuk has played for in his career over the first 13 games, as well as how many points he had over that span.

Season

Record

Points

Goals

Assists

2001-02

3-7-1-2

9

7

1

2002-03

2-9-1-1

6

8

3

2003-04

6-3-3-1

16

12

8

2005-06

4-8-1

9

9

10

2006-07

8-2-3

19

9

8

2007-08

4-9-0

8

10

6

2008-09

4-7-2

10

5

5

2009-10

6-6-1

13

12

8

2010-11

3-9-1

7

3

3

The Devils’ start this year is the second worst that team start the Kovalchuk has been apart of. That is pretty shocking considering he played for an Atlanta team that only made the playoffs once in his tenure there. Even more shocking is that his six points so far are the lowest he has had in his entire career. It’s shocking because Kovalchuk has always been a fast starter; scoring 20 points in his first 13 games twice, and 19 points once.